The Internet is an open network, increasingly used for delivery of digital contents. In the digital format, content is expressed as streams of bits that can be transported flawlessly. Transmitted content can be copied perfectly infinite times. Users can also manipulate these files.
Content protection mechanisms such as digital watermarking attempt to protect the rights of the content creator, the distributor, and the user. The content owner may deposit a unique description of the original content to a neutral registration authority. The unique distribution may be hash value or textual description. The registration authority may allot a unique identification number to the content, and archive the unique identification number and the content for future reference. This unique identification number may also be conveyed to the content owner.
The content owner may derive suitable parameters, which may be a digital watermark pertaining to the unique identification number. The digital watermark is securely and secretly merged with the original content itself. One of the goals is to degrade the digital watermarked content's quality minimally. The content owner can prove the origin of creation by extracting the watermark from the watermarked content.